VAUGHAN, Ontario (AP) _ Waste Connections Inc. (WCN) on Wednesday reported first-quarter net income of $160.3 million.

The Vaughan, Ontario-based company said it had profit of 61 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 70 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 67 cents per share.

The solid waste services provider posted revenue of $1.4 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.38 billion.

Waste Connections shares have climbed 14% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $117.23, an increase of 35% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on WCN at https://www.zacks.com/ap/WCN

Copyright by Automated Insights, Inc. All rights reserved., source Associated Press News